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Program Planning Committee Report to the Provost
October 9, 2007
Electrical Engineering
2006-2007 cycle
The PPC commends the Electrical Engineering program for the diverse curriculum,
highly qualified faculty, maintenance of state of the art facilities, and a well formulated
five year plan. The detailed self-study and external reviewers report revealed many
strengths and no major problems in the program. The department, college, and dean
agreed with the recommendations outlined by the external reviewer, which focused on
student retention, adjustments and development of curriculum, and assessment.
The Electrical Engineering program is doing an excellent job at assessment. In
accordance with the 2006 Program Planning Guidelines, the self study included program
assessment plans, the university assessment reports, and an evaluation of the results of
assessment efforts with particular attention to modifications that have been made to
improve student achievement of learning goals and outcomes.
Faculty members have not only laid a strong foundation, but have made changes to the
program based on the data collected. To improve assessment, the department has made a
clear separation of Program Education Objectives from Outcomes, and has developed a
strategy for collecting direct assessment data to document outcome achievements in core
courses.
The WASC team in their March 2007 visit encouraged all programs to put greater focus
on program (rather than course) assessment and use data (course and other sources) to
evaluate the achievement of program outcomes at graduation. Electrical Engineering
appears to be doing this; however, the department should be aware that the Director of
Assessment is available to provide suggestions and support. WASC suggests less focus
on collecting data and more focus on program improvements. If your accreditation
agency does not require it, it isn’t necessary to collect data on every learning objective
every semester.
The final step in the program planning process is a meeting with the Provost (or her
designee), the Dean, and the Department Chair. Please contact Janette Pamintuan in the
Office of Undergraduate Studies to schedule the final meeting. Before scheduling the
meeting the department should look for evidence explaining low graduation rates as
discussed by the external reviewer. The following agenda items are suggested for the
meeting:
 Coordination and expansion of curriculum including additional summer course
offerings
 Ideas for improvements in student retention and advising in both undergraduate
and graduate programs
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Strategic plan for faculty and new program development with input from the
Advisory Committee
Addition of a laboratory technician
Development of a joint Ph. D. program with another institutions in light of issues
regarding decreased enrollment
Please obtain recent data elements from Institutional Research before scheduling this
meeting. If the Department would like to propose other issues, please let Janette
Pamintuan know so that the items can be added to the agenda.
The Program Planning Committee recommends acceptance of the plan without
modification. The next program review for all programs in the Department of Electrical
Engineering is scheduled for AY 2012-2013.
Cc:
Avtar Singh, Chair, Electrical Engineering
Belle Wei, Dean, Engineering
Ahmed Hambaba, Associate Dean, Engineering
Michael Kaufman, Chair, Curriculum and Research
Bob Cooper, AVP Undergraduate Studies
Pam Stacks, AVP Graduate Studies
Bill Nance, Vice-Provost
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Appendix: Summary of Program Planning Reports for Electrical
Engineering
Overview of the Program:
The program offers B.S. and M.S. The undergraduate program includes 17 required
(core) courses and 25 technical electives classified into 5 areas: Communication,
Wireless, and Digital Signal Processing; Digital Logic, Systems, and Networking;
Integrated Circuit Design and Fabrication; Analog Electronics; RF and Microwaves. The
graduate program includes 7 general and core courses and 40 technical electives
classified into 5 areas: Telecommunications/ Wireless/Signal Processing; Networking;
Digital Systems/Logic Design; ASIC/VLSI Design/Analog/Mixed-Signal ICs; Controls
and Power Electronics.
The department has 21 tenured and tenure-track faculty (all with Ph.D. degrees) and 1520 part-time faculty per semester. From 15-20 graduate students are employed as
Teaching Associates each semester. Average enrollment per semester for undergraduates
is 600 and 400 for graduates. The average numbers of BSEE degrees granted per year is
150; for the MSEE degree the average is 130.
Summary of Self Study (November 17, 2006)
The department is accredited by ABET and underwent review in 2000 and 2005. The
Spring 2005 accreditation report gave the department an excellent review, citing the
department strengths in continued improvement of curriculum and laboratories, and close
interaction with industry.
Changes in program requirements, operations, and curriculum
Following the 2000 and 2005 ABET visits, the department made several changes in EE
program requirements, operations and curriculum. For the undergraduate program, these
involved improvements in placement exams, verification of completion of prerequisites,
establishing problem sessions/tutorials for core classes, and additional laboratory
equipment. Curricular enhancements included data/voice networking (in collaboration
with Cisco), course sequences in the Design, Fabrication, and Test of Integrated Circuits,
and analog and mixed signal design. Additional elective courses were developed with the
assistance of local industry. In several courses, report writing has been emphasized to
give students more technical writing experience.
The department houses several laboratories that required equipment and software
upgrades and allowed for increased access by students. The department also made several
changes in the requirements for completion of the Master’s Project, Master’s Thesis, and
“course only” option that requires a comprehensive exam during the final year of the
program.
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Assessment activities
The department has defined Program Educational Objectives and Program Outcomes for
its undergraduate and graduate programs. It established a three-year cycle for assessment,
evaluation and enhancement (AE/E). This cycle allows for one year for assessment
activities, one semester for the evaluation of assessment results and recommendations for
improvement, and three semesters for enhancement. A departmental committee (AEC)
oversees these activities.
For the undergraduate program, assessment takes the form of surveys, examinations,
formal evaluations, and discussions, including:
Faculty discussion and survey on Program Educational Objectives
Student surveys on Course Learning Objectives for all courses
EE110 Placement Examination
Senior Skill Audit Exam
Junior Survey of Program Outcomes
Capstone Design Project Evaluation
Student Team Evaluation
Oral and Written Communication Skills Evaluation
Senior Survey of Learning Outcomes
Alumni Survey of Program outcomes and Program Educational objectives
Employer Survey of Program Outcomes and Program Educational Objectives
Focus Group Discussions
For the graduate program, assessment activities derived from faculty recommendations
and did not follow ABET format. However, this was changed for the 2007-2009 AE/E
cycle and now includes formal assessment using the following:
Student Surveys on Course Learning Objectives for all courses
Graduate Comprehensive Exam
Master Project/Thesis Report Evaluation
Master Project/Thesis Presentation and Seminar Evaluation
M. S. Survey of the Program Outcomes
Graduate Area Committee and Faculty Inputs
Beginning in Spring 2007, an assessment cycle will be implemented in parallel with the
ABET assessment cycle. The learning objectives of all graduate courses have been
documented, and oral and writing communication skills have been assessed along with
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program outcomes. The result is a matrix of objectives vs. outcomes that is described in
detail in the self study report.
Enrollment
Undergraduate enrollment has declined since 2001, reflecting trends in an industry that is
outsourcing work to other countries. Graduate enrollment remains stable with slight
increases. However, the department anticipates potential enrollment decreases due to the
large number of current graduate students from India (70%).
Five-year plan
The department’s five-year plan is focused on the goal of “continu[ing] to develop state
of the art EE graduate and undergraduate programs, which attract high quality students
and graduate globally competitive engineers.” To achieve this goal department identified
six objectives:
1. Update current undergraduate and graduate curricula, including laboratory support and
development
2. Develop new courses in emerging areas
3. Recruit / retain faculty
4. Faculty development: increase contracts, grants, and collaboration with industry;
participate in continuing education and intercollegiate collaboration
5. Recruit / retain students, and graduate globally competitive engineers
6. Develop and implement outreach programs for EE alumni
Summary of External Evaluator’s Report (Feb. 20-21, 2007)
The External Review was conducted by Dr. Anastasios Chassiakos of CSU-Long Beach.
His report addressed the department’s curriculum, achievement of learning outcomes,
students, faculty, and resources.
Strengths
(1) the undergraduate culminating experience, which takes the form of a senior design
project over a 2-semester period, is innovative in its format
(2) the graduate course EE2981 provides opportunities for international students to do
internships in local companies
(2) an early start to assessment activities (1999) resulted in completion of two 3-year
cycles. Faculty can now make comparisons and determine the effectiveness of changes
made in the first assessment cycle based on statistical analysis of the data collected
during the second assessment cycle
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(3) the advising process, in which every faculty member serves as an advisor for the
major and every student must meet and receive clearance from an advisor before
registering for the following semester
(4) a highly qualified faculty with members actively engaged in research and externally
funded projects and good ties with the industry
(5) unique and well-equipped laboratories that are maintained and upgraded on a
continuous basis
Recommendations
Curriculum
(1) engage the Industrial Advisory Board more in the curriculum and meet more
frequently
(2) for the undergraduate program, review curriculum to look for course overlaps and
consolidate overlapping courses; also review the Physics requirements and adjust the
curriculum if necessary
(3) for the graduate program, look into revising the core course requirements as some
courses appear to be irrelevant for certain specialization areas
(4) for future development, look into expanding the graduate program in the areas of
wireless communications as a major theme; wireless sensor networks within the
framework of wireless communications mixed signal (especially as applied to wireless
communications), networking, DSP, Photonics, and interdisciplinary areas such as
Nanotechnology and Bioengineering
(5) given the level of maturity of the graduate program and interest of the faculty, look
into the option of establishing a joint Ph.D. program with another institution
Achievement of Learning Outcomes
(1) revise the Program Educational Objectives and clearly separate them from Program
Outcomes
(2) intensify efforts on direct assessment for all accreditation criteria. This can be done by
focusing on several required key courses, which in their totality would cover all ABET
accreditation criteria. This assessment process should ideally be repeated twice; once in
the lower division and the second time for upper division courses
(3) continue with the newly established assessment activities for the graduate program
(started in 2005)
Students
(1) formalize the career advising process, so that every student would have information
about career option
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(2) students need to be more engaged in the program in their freshman and sophomore
years. The department and college should look into ways to improve continuous
engagements with students to improve retention rates
(3) to improve retention, look into ways to identify students who are near probation and
interfere early enough so that probation can be avoided
(4) since retention and recruitment activities can be resource intensive, the department
should work with the college to explore the possibility of making retention and
recruitment college-wide activities
(5) look into the possibility of expanding the undergraduate and graduate summer course
offerings
(6) responding to a complaint by international students of the “hidden cost” of the
required ENGL 295 course, the department should revise their information materials
about the graduate program to include this requirement
(7) to counteract the lack of laboratory components in graduate classes, the department
should look into courses where introduction of hands-on projects is possible, and
encourage faculty to provide students with more opportunities for hands-on work
whenever feasible
Faculty and resources
(1) actively inform faculty about opportunities within the college and university for
developing grant proposals, via assigned time or other incentives, and encourage faculty
to take advantage of them
(2) laboratory support personnel may be inadequate in the future and might require the
addition of a 0.5 or 1.0 technician position to maintain the quality of laboratory
instruction
Summary of Department’s Response
The department agreed with the external reviewer’s recommendations and chose not to
respond.
Summary of College Committee Report (undated)
The college committee recommended that the EE department take the following actions:
(1) make a timeline on how the reviewer’s recommendations will be implemented
(2) meet with the departmental Advisory Board at least once a year to review the
currency of the curriculum
(3) for the undergraduate program, re-write the Program Educational Objectives to reflect
ABET expectations
(4) for the graduate program, include hands-on projects in the curriculum
(5) collect direct assessment data to document the achievement of Program Outcomes
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(6) hire an additional technician to ensure that all 19 labs are adequately maintained
Dean’s Report (September 4, 2007)
The Dean commended the EE program for the high-quality faculty, close connections
with industry, strong curriculum, and appreciative student body. She also advised the
department to make improvements in areas of student recruitment and advising, course
coordination, faculty development, and new program development with the following
specific recommendations:
(1) implement an effective student recruitment plan, provide students with career
advising, and furnish updated information on the program website
(2) in the area of course coordination, students should have a study program consisting of
well sequenced and coordinated topics when they take one course after another
(3) develop a strategic plan that includes faculty development as an integral part; include
input from the department’s Advisory Committee consisting of its outstanding alumni
and industry professional;
(4) develop programs that are responsive to rapidly changing technology fields and
industry practices